Semiconductor processing station and method for processing semiconductor wafer

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor processing station is provided. The semiconductor processing station includes a first platform, a second platform and a vacuum tunnel, wherein the first platform has a first load lock and a first plurality of chambers, and the second platform has a second load lock and a second plurality of chambers, and the vacuum tunnel connects the first and the second load locks.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor fabrication, and moreparticularly to a semiconductor processing station and a method forprocessing semiconductor wafer.

BACKGROUND

As the semiconductor manufacturing processes grow in complexity, itbecomes increasingly necessary to transfer wafers among a number ofdifferent process modules or tools, and those tools are usuallyseparated by significant distances, which may result in increased riskof particle contamination of wafers, when wafers are transferred betweenseparate vacuum tools. Therefore, it usually depends on the vendors todevelop or integrate in-situ tool to fulfill the semiconductormanufacturing process requirement, but in this way, it induces the IPleakage and poor flexibility on vendor selection. On the other hand,because the wafer per hour (WPH) of the processing chambers of theplatform is unbalanced, the productivity of the platform is very low.Some processing chambers with high WPH need to wait for those with lowWPH, which lowers the utilization of the processing chambers. Forsolving this problem, some traditional methods, such as the linearplatform connects extra processing chambers to the platform to increasethe chamber quantity of the platform. However, the business model of thechambers' procurement and operations is complicated, and the integrationand software development for multi-chamber combination is complicated,either.

Hence, because of the defects in the prior arts, there is a need tosolve the above problems.

SUMMARY

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a semiconductorprocessing station is provided. The semiconductor processing stationincludes a first platform, a second platform and a vacuum tunnel,wherein the first platform has a first load lock and a first pluralityof chambers, and the second platform has a second load lock and a secondplurality of chambers, and the vacuum tunnel connects the first and thesecond load locks.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a methodfor processing a semiconductor wafer in a semiconductor processingstation including a first and a second cluster platforms, each of whichincludes a plurality of chambers is provided. The method includes stepsof providing the semiconductor wafer in the first cluster platform, andtransferring the semiconductor wafer between the first and the secondcluster platforms in a vacuum.

In accordance with one more aspect of the present disclosure, asemiconductor processing station is provided. The system includes afirst platform, a second platform and a vacuum tunnel, wherein the firstplatform includes a first plurality of chambers, and the second platformincludes a second plurality of chambers, and the vacuum tunnelcommunicates with the first and the second platforms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is best understood from the following detaileddescription when read with the accompanying figures. It is emphasizedthat, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, variousfeatures are not shown to scale and are used for illustration purposesonly. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarilyincreased or reduced for clarity of discussion.

FIG. 1 shows a semiconductor processing station in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2, which shows a semiconductor processing station in accordancewith another embodiment of the present disclosure

FIG. 3, which shows a semiconductor processing station in accordancewith another embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 shows a semiconductor processing station in accordance withanother embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of a method for processing a semiconductorwafer in a semiconductor processing station in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure will be described with respect to particularembodiments and with reference to certain drawings, but the disclosureis not limited thereto but is only limited by the claims. The drawingsdescribed are only schematic and are non-limiting. In the drawings, thesize of some of the elements may be exaggerated and not drawn on scalefor illustrative purposes. The dimensions and the relative dimensions donot necessarily correspond to actual reductions to practice.

Furthermore, the terms first, second and the like in the description andin the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar elements andnot necessarily for describing a sequence, either temporally, spatially,in ranking or in any other manner. It is to be understood that the termsso used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that theembodiments described herein are capable of operation in other sequencesthan described or illustrated herein.

It is to be noticed that the term “comprising”, used in the claims,should not be interpreted as being restricted to the means listedthereafter; it does not exclude other elements or steps. It is thus tobe interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features,integers, steps or components as referred to, but does not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps orcomponents, or groups thereof. Thus, the scope of the expression “adevice comprising means A and B” should not be limited to devicesconsisting only of components A and B.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “inan embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are notnecessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but may. Furthermore,the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combinedin any suitable manner, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill inthe art from this disclosure, in one or more embodiments.

Similarly it should be appreciated that in the description of exemplaryembodiments, various features are sometimes grouped together in a singleembodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose ofstreamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one ormore of the various inventive aspects. This method of disclosure,however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that theclaimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited ineach claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspectslie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosedembodiment. Thus, the claims following the detailed description arehereby expressly incorporated into this detailed description, with eachclaim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.

Furthermore, while some embodiments described herein include some butnot other features included in other embodiments, combinations offeatures of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope ofthe invention, and form different embodiments, as would be understood bythose in the art. For example, in the following claims, any of theclaimed embodiments can be used in any combination.

In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are setforth. However, it is understood that embodiments may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods,structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not toobscure an understanding of this description.

The present disclosure will now be described by a detailed descriptionof several embodiments. It is clear that other embodiments can beconfigured according to the knowledge of persons skilled in the artwithout departing from the true technical teaching of the presentdisclosure, the claimed invention being limited only by the terms of theappended claims.

Hereafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained indetail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a semiconductor processing station 100 in accordance withan embodiment of the present disclosure. The semiconductor processingstation 100 includes a first platform 120, a second platform 140 and avacuum tunnel 160, wherein the first platform 120 has the first loadlock 122 a and a first plurality of chambers 1241, 1242, 1243, 1244,1245, 1246, 1247, 1248, 1249, and the second platform 140 has a secondload lock 142 a and a second plurality of chambers 1441. 1442. 1443.1444, 1445, 1446, 1447, 1448, and the vacuum tunnel 160 connects thefirst load lock 122 a and the second load lock 142 a. In someembodiments, the vacuum tunnel 160 further includes a vacuum robot 162a. During the manufacturing processes of a wafer 102, the vacuum robot162 a transfers the wafer 102 between the first load lock 122 a and thesecond load lock 142 a. In another embodiment, the vacuum tunnel 160 hasa first side 160 a coupled to the first load lock 122 a, and has asecond side 160 b opposite to the first side 160 a and coupled to thesecond load lock 142, which may lead the first platform 120 connectedface to face with the second platform 140 (as shown in FIG. 2). In stillanother embodiment, each of the first and the second platforms 120 and140 includes one selected from a group consisting of a cluster platform,a linear platform and a lean platform, and the present disclosure takesthe cluster platform as the implementation of the first platform 120 andthe second platform 140, as shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1, the semiconductor processing station 100 furtherincludes a first equipment front end module (EFEM) 180 and a third loadlock 182, wherein the first EFEM 180 is coupled to the third load lock182, and the third load lock 182 is coupled to the vacuum tunnel 160.The third load lock 182 is used to facilitate transfer of the wafer 102between the vacuum environment of the vacuum tunnel 160 and theatmosphere environment of the first EFEM 180. The first EFEM 180includes an interface robot 184 and a load port 186, wherein theinterface robot 184 is responsible for transferring the wafer 102between the third load lock 182 and the load port 186. In a condition,the interface robot 184 transfers the wafer 102 from the load port 186to the third load lock 182, and the vacuum robot 162 a transfers thewafer 102 from the third load lock 182 to the first load lock 122 a tostart multiple processes in the first platform 120. After finishing theprocesses in first platform 120, the processed wafer 102 is put into thefirst load lock 122 a, and the vacuum robot 162 a transfers theprocessed wafer 102 from the first load lock 122 a to the second loadlock 142 a to do multiple processes in the second platform 140. Afterfinishing the processes in the second platform 140, the processed wafer102 is put into the second load lock 142 a, and the vacuum robot 162transfers the processed wafer 102 from the second load lock 142 a to thethird load lock 182. The interface robot 184 transfers the processedwafer 102 from the third load lock 182 to the load port 186, thusfinishing the manufacturing processes. In some embodiments, the loadport 186 includes an FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod) for storing manywafers.

Referring to FIG. 1, the first platform 120 includes the first pluralityof chambers 1241, 1242, 1243, 1244, 1245, 1246, 1247, 1248, 1249, andthe first load lock 122 a and 122 b disposed adjacent to the firstplurality of chambers 1248 and 1249, respectively. The second platform140 includes the second plurality of chambers 1441. 1442. 1443. 1444,1445, 1446, 1447, 1448, and the second load locks 142 a and 142 b aredisposed adjacent to the second plurality of chambers 1467 and 1468,respectively. In some embodiments, the first plurality of chambers 1241,1242, 1243, 1244, 1245, 1246, 1247, 1248, 1249 are typically coupled toa first central transfer chamber 124 a that houses at least one transferrobot 126 a (such as two transfer robots 126 a and 126 b) to facilitatetransfer of the wafer between the surrounding first plurality ofchambers 1241, 1242, 1243, 1244, 1245, 1246, 1247, 1447, 1448, and thesecond plurality of chambers 1241, 1242, 1243, 1244, 1245, 1246, 1247,1447, 1448 are typically coupled to a second central transfer chamber144 a that houses at least one transfer robot 146 a (such as twotransfer robots 146 a and 146 b) to facilitate transfer of the waferbetween the surrounding second plurality of chambers 1441. 1442. 1443.1444, 1445, 1446, 1447, 1448. The transfer robots 126 a, 126 b, 146 aand 146 b have a range of motion that is used to transfer the waferamong the surrounding first plurality of chambers 1241, 1242, 1243,1244, 1245, 1246, 1247, 1447, 1448 and the second plurality of chambers1441. 1442. 1443. 1444, 1445, 1446, 1447, 1448.

In another embodiment, the first plurality of chambers 1241, 1242, 1243are the first processing chambers, and the first plurality of chambers1245, 1246 are the second processing chambers, and the first pluralityof chambers 1244, 1247 are the third processing chambers, and the firstplurality of chambers 1248, 1249 are the fourth processing chambers. Onthe other hand, the second plurality of chambers 1441. 1442. 1443. 1444are the fifth processing chambers, and the second plurality of chambers1445, 1446 are the sixth processing chambers, and the second pluralityof chambers 1447, 1448 are the seventh processing chambers. The WPH(wafer per hour) of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth andseventh processing chambers may be different. For example, the WPH ofthe first processing chambers are lower than that of the second andthird processing chambers, and the WPH of the fifth processing chambersare lower than that of the sixth processing chambers. Besides, it can beappreciate that each of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixthand seventh processing chambers may be utilized as etching chambers,physical vapor deposition chambers, chemical vapor deposition chambers,ion implantation chambers, lithography chambers and the like. In stillanother embodiment, the first platform 120 is responsible for a firstmanufacturing process, and the second platform is responsible for asecond manufacturing process.

Referring to FIG. 1, the first transfer chamber 124 a includes at leastone first vacancy 128 a (such as 128 a and 128 b) and the secondtransfer chamber 144 a includes at least one second vacancy 148 a (suchas 148 a and 148 b). In some embodiments, the first vacancies 128 a, 128b and the second vacancies 148 a, 148 b are used for positioning theprocessed wafers and letting the processed wafer wait for the nextprocess (as explained infra). In another embodiment, the first vacancies128 a, 128 b and the second vacancies 148 a, 148 b are places used forcooling the processed wafer 102.

Referring to FIG. 1, the interface robot 184 transfers the wafer 102from the load port 186 to the third load lock 182, and the vacuum robot162 a transfers the wafer 102 from the third load lock 182 to the firstload lock 122 b. Then, the transfer robot 126 a transfers the wafer 102from the first load lock 122 b to one of the first plurality of chambers1241, 1242, 1243, 1244, 1245, 1246, 1247, 1248, 1249 to start processesin the first platform 120, and after finishing the processes in thefirst platform 120, the transfer robot 126 a transfers the processedwafer 102 from the first plurality of chambers 1241, 1242, 1243, 1244,1245, 1246, 1247, 1248, 1249 to the first load lock 122 a. Next, thevacuum robot 162 a transfers the processed wafer 102 from the first loadlock 122 a to the second load lock 142 a, and the transfer robot 146 atransfers the processed wafer 102 from the second load lock 142 a to oneof the second plurality of chambers 1441. 1442. 1443. 1444, 1445, 1446,1447, 1448 to start processes in the second platform 140, and afterfinishing the processes in the second platform 140, the transfer robot146 a transfers the processed wafer 102 from the second plurality ofchambers 1441. 1442. 1443. 1444, 1445, 1446, 1447, 1448 to the secondload lock 142 b. The vacuum robot 162 a transfers the processed wafer102 from the second load lock 142 b to the third load lock 182, and theinterface robot 184 transfers the processed wafer 102 from the thirdload lock 182 back to the load port 186, thus finishing themanufacturing process.

In some embodiments, due to the limitation of the moving distance of thetransfer robot 126 a, the semiconductor processing 100 uses the transferrobot 126 a and the transfer robot 126 b. When the transfer distance isbeyond the moving distance of the transfer robot 126 a, the transferrobot 126 a transfers the wafer 102 from the first load lock 122 b tothe first vacancy 128 a, and the transfer robot 126 b transfers thewafer 102 from the first vacancy 128 a to the target chamber in thefirst platform 120, and after the processes in the first platform 120are finished, the transfer robot 126 b transfers the processed wafer 102from the target chamber to the second vacancy 128 b. The transfer robot126 a transfers the processed wafer 102 from the second vacancy 128 b tothe first load lock 122 a. Then, the vacuum robot 162 a transfers theprocessed wafer 102 from the first load lock 122 a to the second loadlock 142 a. The operations of the transfer robots 146 a and 146 b in thesecond platform 140 are like those of transfer robots 126 a and 126 b inthe first platform 120.

In another embodiment, the vacuum tunnel 160 includes two vacuum robots162 a, 162 b and a wafer stage 164, as shown in FIG. 1. The interfacerobot 184 transfers the wafer 102 from the load port 186 to the thirdload lock 182, and the vacuum robot 162 a transfers the wafer 102 fromthe third load lock 182 to the first load lock 122 b, and after thewafer 102 finishes the processes in the first platform 120, the transferrobot 126 a transfers the wafer 102 from the first plurality of chambers1241, 1242, 1243, 1244, 1245, 1246, 1247, 1248, 1249 to the first loadlock 122 a. Next, the vacuum robot 162 b transfers the processed wafer102 from the first load lock 122 a to the wafer stage 164, and when thesecond load lock 142 is available, the vacuum robot 162 b transfers theprocessed wafer 102 from the wafer stage 164 to the second load lock 142a. After the processed wafer 102 finishes the processes in the secondplatform 140, the transfer robot 146 a transfers the processed wafer 102from the second plurality of chambers 1441. 1442. 1443. 1444, 1445,1446, 1447, 1448 to the second load lock 142 b, and the vacuum robot 162b transfers the processed wafer 102 from the second load lock 142 b tothe wafer stage 164. Then, the vacuum robot 162 a transfers theprocessed wafer 102 from the wafer stage 164 back to the first EFEM 180.

Refer to FIG. 2, which shows a semiconductor processing station 200 inaccordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure. Thesemiconductor processing station 200 further includes a fourth load lock104 and a second EFEM 106. The interface robot 184 transfers the wafer102 from the load port 186 to the third load lock 182, and the vacuumrobot 162 a transfers the wafer 102 from the third load lock 182 to thefirst platform 120. After the wafer 102 finishes the processes in thefirst platform 120, the vacuum robot 162 b transfers the processed waferfrom the first platform 120 to the second platform 140. After theprocessed wafer 102 finishes the processes in the second platform 140,the vacuum robot 162 b transfers the processed wafer 102 from the secondplatform 140 to the fourth load lock 104, and the processed wafer 102 issent back to the EFEM 106. Comparing the operation of the semiconductorprocessing station 100 mentioned above with that of the semiconductorprocessing station 200, the difference between them is merely that: whenthe processes in the second platform 140 are finished, the processedwafer 102 is put into the second load lock 142 a, and the vacuum robot162 b transfers the processed wafer 102 to the second EFEM 106 throughthe fourth load lock 104.

Refer to FIG. 3, which shows a semiconductor processing station 300 inaccordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure. The firstplatform 120 includes a first control system 320 controlling theoperation of the first platform 120, and the second platform 140includes a second control system 340 controlling an operation of thesecond platform 140. The semiconductor processing station 300 furtherincludes a third control system 360 and a host control system 380,wherein the third control system 360 controls operations of the firstEFEM 180, the third load lock 182 and the vacuum tunnel 160, and thehost control system 380 controls an operation of the semiconductorprocessing station 300. That is to say, the host control system 380controls the interactions of the first, the second, and the thirdcontrol systems, and designates the working flow of the three systemsmentioned above to manipulate the operation of the semiconductorprocessing station 300, although the operations of the first, the secondplatforms 120, 140 are independent, respectively. In some embodiments,the first platform 120 and the second platform 140 may operate at thesame time.

FIG. 4 shows a semiconductor processing station 400 in accordance withanother embodiment of the present disclosure. The semiconductorprocessing station 400 includes a first sub-processing station 420 and asecond sub-processing station 440, and a buffer stage 460 coupledbetween the first and the second sub-processing stations 420 and 440.The first and the second sub-processing stations 420 and 440 areimplementations of the semiconductor processing station 100 mentionedabove, respectively. The buffer stage 460 includes a first sub-bufferstage 462, a second sub-buffer stage 464 and a buffer robot 466, whereinthe first sub-buffer stage 462 coupled to the first sub-processingstation 420 and the second sub-buffer stage 464 coupled to the secondsub-processing station 440. The buffer robot 466 is disposed between thefirst sub-buffer stage 462 and the second sub-buffer stage 464.

Refer to FIG. 4, the first sub-processing station 420 includes the firstplatform 120, the second platform 140 and the vacuum tunnel 160, and thesecond sub-processing station 440 includes a third platform 520, afourth platform 540 and a vacuum tunnel 560. The configurations of thethird platform 520 and the fourth platform 540 are like those of thefirst and the second platforms 120 and 140, and the configuration of thevacuum tunnel 560 is like that of the vacuum tunnel 160. In someembodiments, the first, second, third and fourth platforms areresponsible for a first, second, third and fourth manufacturingprocesses, respectively. The wafer is transferred into the firstplatform 120 for doing the first manufacturing process, and then thevacuum robot transfers the processed wafer from the first platform 120to the second platform 140 through the vacuum tunnel 160. Afterfinishing the process in the second platform 140, the processed wafer istransferred from the second platform 140 to the first sub-buffer stage462. When the second sub-processing station 440 is available, the bufferrobot 466 transfers the processed wafer from the first sub-buffer stage462 to the second sub-buffer stage 464, and the processed wafer istransferred to the third platform 520 to do the third manufacturingprocess. After finishing the third manufacturing process, the processedwafer is transferred to the fourth platform 540 to do the fourthmanufacturing process through the vacuum tunnel 560. It should beappreciate that the processing sequence of the first, second, third andfourth platforms mentioned above (the wafer transferred from the firstsub-processing system 420 to the second sub-processing system 440) ismerely used for exemplifying the operation of the semiconductorprocessing station 400, and the processing sequence may be different.For example, the wafer may be transferred from the second sub-processingsystem 440 to the first sub-processing system 420. In some embodiments,the buffer stage 460 has operating pressure in a range of 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻⁶atmosphere. In another embodiment, the vacuum tunnels 160, 560 haveoperating pressure in a range of 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻⁶ atmosphere. Therefore, thewafer is transferred in vacuum between the first sub-processing station420 and the second sub-processing station 440 through the buffer stage460, by reducing the risk of particle contamination of wafers.

Based on the above mentioned, the present disclosure has many advantagesover the conventional tools. On one hand, the semiconductor processingstation disclosed in the present disclosure may link multi-platformstogether through a vacuum tunnel to accomplish a manufacturing processwithout concerning about the particle contamination of the wafer. On theother hand, the semiconductor processing station is not limited by thenumbers of the chambers, much more processing chambers with much lowerWPH than that with much higher WPH in the first and the second platformscan be disposed to increase the productivity of the semiconductorprocessing station and lower the individual chamber down time impact asas previously described.

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of a method 500 for processing a semiconductorwafer 102 in a semiconductor processing station 100 in accordance withan embodiment of the present disclosure. The semiconductor processingstation 100 includes a first and a second cluster platforms (such as thefirst and the second platforms 120 and 140), the first cluster platformincludes a first plurality of chambers (such as the first plurality ofchambers 1241, 1242, 1243, 1244, 1245, 1246, 1247, 1248, 1249) and thesecond cluster platform includes a second plurality of chambers (such asthe second plurality of chambers 1441. 1442. 1443. 1444, 1445, 1446,1447, 1448). In step 502, the semiconductor wafer 102 is provided in thefirst cluster platform, such as the first platform 120. In step 504, thesemiconductor wafer 102 is transferred between the first and the secondcluster platforms in vacuum. In some embodiments, the first clusterplatform includes a first load lock (such as the first load lock 122 a),and the second cluster platform includes a second load lock (such as thesecond load lock 142 a). In another embodiment, the semiconductor waferis transferred between the first and the second cluster platformsthrough the first and the second load locks. In still anotherembodiment, the transferring step includes a sub-step of transferringthe semiconductor wafer 102 between the first and the second clusterplatforms through a vacuum tunnel 160.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, asemiconductor processing station includes a first platform, a secondplatform and a vacuum tunnel, wherein the first platform has a firstload lock and a first plurality of chambers, the second platform has asecond load lock and a second plurality of chambers, and the vacuumtunnel connects the first and the second load locks.

In various implementations, the vacuum tunnel has a first side coupledto the first load lock, and has a second side coupled to the second loadlock, wherein the second side is opposite to the first side. Thesemiconductor processing station further includes an equipment front endmodule (EFEM) and a third load lock, wherein the EFEM is coupled to thethird load lock, and the third load lock is coupled to the vacuumtunnel. The EFEM further includes an interface robot and a load port,wherein the EFEM is at atmosphere pressure. The semiconductor processingstation further includes a third control system controlling an operationof the EFEM, the third load lock and the vacuum tunnel, and the firstplatform includes a first control system controlling an operation of thefirst platform, and the second platform includes a second control systemcontrolling an operation of the second platform. Each of the first andthe second platforms includes one selected from a group consisting of acluster platform, a linear platform and a lean platform. The vacuumtunnel further includes at least one vacuum robot and one wafer stagedisposed beside the vacuum robot, wherein the vacuum tunnel hasoperating pressure in a range of 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻⁶ atmosphere. Thesemiconductor processing station further includes a buffer stage coupledto the vacuum tunnel, wherein the buffer stage has operating pressure ina range of 10⁻⁶ atmosphere.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method forprocessing a semiconductor wafer in a semiconductor processing stationis provided. The semiconductor processing station includes a first and asecond cluster platforms, each of which includes a plurality ofchambers. The method includes the following steps: providing thesemiconductor wafer in the first cluster platform; and transferring thesemiconductor wafer between the first and the second cluster platformsin vacuum. In one aspect, the first cluster platform includes a firstload lock, and the second cluster platform includes a second load lock.In another aspect, the semiconductor wafer is transferred between thefirst and the second cluster platforms through the first and the secondload lock. In still another aspect, the transferring step includes asub-step of transferring the semiconductor wafer between the first andthe second cluster platforms through a vacuum tunnel.

In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, asemiconductor processing station includes a first platform, a secondplatform and a vacuum tunnel, wherein the first platform includes afirst plurality of chambers, the second platform includes a secondplurality of chambers, and the vacuum tunnel communicates with the firstand the second platforms. In one aspect, the vacuum tunnel includes afirst side, a second side, a first end and a second end, wherein thesecond end is opposite to the first side, and the second end is oppositeto the first end. The first platform is connected to the first side, andthe second platform is connected to the second side. In another aspect,the semiconductor processing station further includes an EFEM and abuffer stage, wherein the EFEM is connected to the first end, the bufferstage is connected to the second end, and each of the first and thesecond platforms includes one selected from a group consisting of acluster platform, a linear platform and a lean platform.

While the invention has been described in terms of what is presentlyconsidered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is tobe understood that the invention needs not be limited to the discloseembodiments. Therefore, it is intended to cover various modificationsand similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of theappended claims, which are to be accorded with the broadestinterpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similarstructures.

What is claimed is:
 1. A semiconductor processing station, comprising: afirst platform having a first load lock, a first plurality of processingchambers, and at least one first platform robot within the firstplatform arranged to transfer a wafer between the first plurality ofprocessing chambers for processing the wafer; a second platform having asecond load lock, a second plurality of processing chambers, and atleast one second platform robot within the second platform arranged totransfer the processed wafer between the second plurality of processingchambers for additional processing; and a vacuum tunnel connecting thefirst and the second load locks, wherein the vacuum tunnel has a firstside adjacent to the first platform and a second side opposite to thefirst side and adjacent to the second platform, wherein one of the atleast one first platform robot is arranged to directly transfer, via afirst single robot arm, the wafer between two of the first plurality ofprocessing chambers and directly transfer, via said first single robotarm, the wafer between the first load lock and the first plurality ofprocessing chambers, and wherein one of the at least one second platformrobot is arranged to directly transfer, via a second single robot arm,the wafer between two of the second plurality of processing chambers anddirectly transfer, via said second single robot arm, the wafer betweenthe second load lock and the second plurality of processing chambers. 2.The semiconductor processing station as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising: an equipment front end module (EFEM); and a third load lockcoupled between the EFEM and an end of the vacuum tunnel that extendsbetween the first side and the second side.
 3. The semiconductorprocessing station as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vacuum tunnelcomprises a first stationary vacuum robot, a second stationary vacuumrobot, and a stationary wafer stage disposed between the firststationary vacuum robot and the second stationary vacuum robot, whereinthe first stationary vacuum robot is arranged to transfer the processedwafer from the first load lock to the stationary wafer stage, totransfer the processed wafer from the stationary wafer stage to thesecond load lock, and to transfer the processed wafer from the secondload lock to the stationary wafer stage following the additionalprocessing in the second platform, and wherein the second stationaryvacuum robot is arranged to transfer the wafer from a third load lock tothe first platform and to transfer the processed wafer from thestationary wafer stage back to the third load lock.
 4. The semiconductorprocessing station as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first stationaryvacuum robot is arranged to transfer the processed wafer from thestationary wafer stage to the second load lock when the second load lockis available.
 5. The semiconductor processing station as claimed inclaim 3, further comprising an additional load lock in the firstplatform, wherein the second stationary vacuum robot is configured totransfer the wafer from the third load lock to the additional load lockin the first platform, and wherein the first platform robot isconfigured to transfer the wafer between the additional load lock, thefirst plurality of processing chambers, and the first load lock.
 6. Thesemiconductor processing station as claimed in claim 2, wherein the EFEMfurther comprises an interface robot and a load port, and wherein theEFEM is at atmospheric pressure.
 7. The semiconductor processing stationas claimed in claim 2, further comprising a control system controllingan operation of the EFEM, the third load lock and the vacuum tunnel. 8.The semiconductor processing station as claimed in claim 1, wherein eachof the first and the second platforms includes one selected from a groupconsisting of a cluster platform, a linear platform and a lean platform.9. The semiconductor processing station as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising a host control system controlling an operation of thesemiconductor processing station.
 10. The semiconductor processingstation as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first platform includes afirst control system controlling an operation of the first platform andthe second platform includes a second control system controlling anoperation of the second platform.
 11. The semiconductor processingstation as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a buffer stage coupledto the vacuum tunnel, wherein the buffer stage has an operating pressurein a range of 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻⁶ atmosphere, and wherein the vacuum tunnel hasan operating pressure in a range of 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻⁶ atmosphere.
 12. Asemiconductor processing station, comprising: a first platform includinga first load lock and a first plurality of processing chambers and atleast one first platform robot within the first platform arranged totransfer a wafer between the first plurality of processing chambers forprocessing the wafer; a second platform including a second load lock anda second plurality of processing chambers and at least one secondplatform robot within the second platform arranged to transfer theprocessed wafer between the second plurality of processing chambers foradditional processing; a vacuum tunnel communicating with the first andthe second platforms, wherein the vacuum tunnel has a first sideadjacent to the first platform and a second side opposite to the firstside and adjacent to the second platform, and wherein the vacuum tunnelincludes a first end and a second end opposite to the first end, eachend extending between the first and second sides; and a buffer stageconnected to the second end for buffering the processed wafertransferred from the second platform, wherein the buffer stage includesa buffer robot disposed between a first sub-buffer stage and a secondsub-buffer stage, wherein one of the at least one first platform robotis arranged to directly transfer, via a first single robot arm, thewafer between two of the first plurality of processing chambers anddirectly transfer, via said first single robot arm, the wafer betweenthe first load lock and the first plurality of processing chambers, andwherein one of the at least one second platform robot is arranged todirectly transfer, via a single second robot arm, the wafer between twoof the second plurality of processing chambers and directly transfer,via said second single robot arm, the wafer between the second load lockand the second plurality of processing chambers.
 13. The semiconductorprocessing station as claimed in claim 12, further comprising: astationary wafer stage in the vacuum tunnel; and a stationary vacuumrobot disposed in the vacuum tunnel and arranged to transfer theprocessed wafer between the first load lock, the second load lock, thestationary wafer stage, and the first sub-buffer stage.
 14. Thesemiconductor processing station as claimed in claim 13, wherein thestationary vacuum robot is arranged to transfer the processed wafer fromthe first load lock to the stationary wafer stage, to transfer theprocessed wafer from the stationary wafer stage to the second load lock,to transfer the processed wafer from the second load lock to thestationary wafer stage following the additional processing in the secondplatform, and to transfer the processed wafer from the stationary waferstage to the first sub-buffer stage.
 15. The semiconductor processingstation as claimed in claim 14, further comprising: an equipment frontend module (EFEM) connected to the first end; and wherein each of thefirst and the second platforms includes one selected from a groupconsisting of a cluster platform, a linear platform and a lean platform.16. The semiconductor processing station as claimed in claim 15, whereinthe vacuum tunnel further comprises a second stationary vacuum robotarranged to transfer the wafer from a third load lock that is coupled tothe EFEM to the first platform and to transfer the processed wafer fromthe stationary wafer stage back to the EFEM, and the vacuum tunnelhaving an operating pressure in a range of 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻⁶ atmospherecoupled to the buffer stage having an operating pressure in a range of10⁻⁶ atmosphere.
 17. The semiconductor processing station as claimed inclaim 16, wherein the first platform, the second platform, and thevacuum tunnel comprise a first processing sub-station and wherein thesemiconductor processing station further comprises a second processingsub-station coupled to the second sub-buffer stage.
 18. Thesemiconductor processing station as claimed in claim 17, wherein thesecond processing sub-station comprises: a second vacuum tunnel coupled,at a first end, to the second sub-buffer stage; a third platformincluding a third plurality of processing chambers and at least onethird platform robot within the third platform arranged to transfer theprocessed wafer between the third plurality of processing chambers; anda fourth platform including a fourth plurality of processing chambersand at least one fourth platform robot within the fourth platformarranged to transfer the processed wafer between the fourth plurality ofprocessing chambers.
 19. The semiconductor processing station as claimedin claim 13, wherein the stationary vacuum robot is arranged to transferthe processed wafer in the stationary wafer stage to the second loadlock when the second load lock is available.
 20. The semiconductorprocessing station as claimed in claim 18, further comprising: an atleast one additional vacuum robot disposed in the second vacuum tunnel;and an additional EFEM connected to the second end.
 21. A semiconductorprocessing station, comprising: a first platform having a first loadlock, a first plurality of processing chambers, and at least one firstplatform robot within the first platform arranged to transfer a waferbetween the first plurality of processing chambers for processing; asecond platform having a second load lock, a second plurality ofprocessing chambers, and at least one second platform robot within thesecond platform arranged to transfer the processed wafer between thesecond plurality of processing chambers for additional processing; avacuum tunnel connecting the first and the second load locks, whereinthe vacuum tunnel has a first side adjacent to the first platform and asecond side opposite to the first side and adjacent to the secondplatform; a first equipment front end module (EFEM) and a second EFEM; athird load lock coupled between the first EFEM and a first end of thevacuum tunnel that extends between the first side and the second side;and a fourth load lock coupled between the second EFEM and an opposingsecond end of the vacuum tunnel that extends between the first side andthe second side, wherein the vacuum tunnel comprises a first stationaryvacuum robot, a second stationary vacuum robot, and a stationary waferstage disposed between the first stationary vacuum robot and the secondstationary vacuum robot, wherein one of the at least one first platformrobot is arranged to directly transfer, via a first single robot arm,the wafer between two of the first plurality of processing chambers anddirectly transfer, via said first single robot arm, the wafer betweenthe first load lock and the first plurality of processing chambers, andwherein one of the at least one second platform robot is arranged todirectly transfer, via a second single robot arm, the wafer between twoof the second plurality of processing chambers and directly transfer,via said second single robot arm, the wafer between the second load lockand the second plurality of processing chambers.
 22. The semiconductorprocessing station as claimed in claim 21, wherein the second stationaryvacuum robot is arranged to transfer the wafer from the third load lockto the first platform prior to the processing in the first platform, andwherein the first stationary vacuum robot is arranged to transfer theprocessed wafer from the second load lock to the fourth load lockfollowing the additional processing in the second platform.
 23. Thesemiconductor processing station as claimed in claim 21, wherein thefirst stationary vacuum robot is arranged to transfer the processedwafer from the first load lock to the stationary wafer stage, totransfer the processed wafer from the stationary wafer stage to thesecond load lock, and to transfer the processed wafer from the secondload lock to the stationary wafer stage following the additionalprocessing in the second platform, wherein the second stationary vacuumrobot is arranged to transfer the wafer from the third load lock to thefirst platform, and wherein the first stationary vacuum robot isarranged to transfer the processed wafer from the second load lock tothe fourth load lock.